Fall gourmet series - I've got great buns · Tuesday September 22, 2026 by colin newell
Once the sun starts slipping below the horizon a bit more every day, our palates start thinking about the cozier food of the fall.
These sourdough butter buns tick all the boxes for fluffiness, great taste and texture and an easy bake.
While no sourdough bread project can be considered “beginner level” (I’d say that title belongs to my focaccia bread…), this one is not complex. It does have a few extra ingredients and if I were to hand out some initial advice, it would be “measure everything!”
On your first attempts, keep your digital scale handy! Measure twice!
Uses for sourdough butter buns…
Serve warm from the oven and slathered with butter. Use as mini hamburger buns for sliders. These buns can be the foundation for small sandwiches. You’re only limited by your imagination.Stuff you need…
- 9” × 13” glass baking dish
- accurate digital scale
- bench scraper
- mixing bowls
Ready your starter…
Sourdough starter is a living and breathing entity – and in order for it to be “ready to work…” it needs to be fed and “prepped” with time to ready it to “do the work…”This blog is not meant as a Sourdough instructional – you are going to find a myriad of tips on the YouTubes, Internets and Chat-AI critters.
In my case, I often take my sourdough starter out of refrigerator “in stasis”, then I “feed it…” and let it sit out on the kitchen counter for 6 to 12 hours to build a head of steam. Any sourdough bread is a work and exercise of “slow motion…” You can shape it to work around your life schedule in a variety of ways – that is up to you.
Dough ingredients…
- 2 tablespoons (28 g) butter
- 1 cup (240 g) milk (options include any and all nut milks and oat milk)
- 3 tablespoons (44 g) sugar (or 2 tablespoons of honey)
- 1 teaspoon (5 g) salt
- ½ cup (100 g) active sourdough starter
- 3 cups + 2 tablespoons (375 g) bread flour
Let’s go!
- Melt 28g of salted or unsalted butter in a small pan… gently… do not boil or brown the butter.
- Let cool until around 100 to 110 (F) or anything less.
- Add milk or nut-milk, sugar (or honey) and salt. Stir to combine.
- Temperature should be cool to warm — but not hot.
- Add in the 100G of fed and feisty sourdough starter.
In a larger bowl add your flour – no need to sift it. Bread flour, standard white flour or a combination of brown and white can work well.
Gradually add your liquid stuff (butter, salt, milk and starter…) to the dry (flour) mix.
You can use a stand mixer with the hook attachment and mix for 5 or 10 minutes but I like doing this part by hand – it is mindful and restful and you get a better sense of the texture and direction the dough is going in.
I aim for a shaggy ball of “dough” where the bulk of the wet mix has been absorbed by the dry.
Once you achieve this, cover the bowl with a warm towel and let the dough ball rest for 30 to 40 minutes.
After that first rest, I do my first of 3 to 4 pull and folds – each spaced around 30 to 40 minutes each. With each pull and fold, gluten strands are developing giving the dough ball strength and integrity…
There is a fair bit of technique used here to do the pull and folds and develop a good ball of dough – it is up to you to know where you are at with this or ask the AI or YouTube gods to assist your knowledge base. When you are happy with your dough ball it is time to commence the first cold ferment and proof. This entails throwing a moist towel over your bowl and putting it in the fridge overnight. With a long ferment, you will be rewarded with better taste and texture.
Your alarm clock has awoken you!
By morning your first peek into the fridge will likely be an exciting one.Your dough has risen by upwards of 50% or more – ideally double in size.
Either way, turn it out onto a floured bread board.
With a “bench scraper”, cut the dough ball into 2 pieces… and cut these two pieces into two pieces… and again until you have 12 “lumps” of dough each weighing in at around 65 to 75g. This is good. You now need to form each of the 12 pieces of dough into balls – this is a technique I have yet to master – and once again, your YouTube Jedi will be very helpful.
Set your dough balls into 3 rows of 4 in a lightly greased (buttered) glass baking pan.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in a 375 degree oven or until they are golden brown. If you can measure them internally, a goal of 190 degrees (F) Is ideal.
After you taken them out, give them 15 minutes or so in the pan before turning them all out (in a block) onto a cooling rack. Yes, they will have expanded in the glass baking pan and will have become cozy. Not to worry as they pull apart easily.
Within another half an hour or so, they are ready to pull apart and serve with your best three veg and a meat dinner, or as the foundation for sliders or a charcuterie plate – the sky is the limit – these are delicious buns — and if you don’t need them all at once, they freeze happily for months. Enjoy!
Colin Newell is a Victoria B.C. resident and avid writer. His nattering on about the subject of coffee culture has reached far and wide… and maybe still does…
Key Lime Pie - anytime is a good time for a classic · Saturday August 8, 2026 by colin newell
Back in the 1980’s, Victoria B.C. had a restaurant called “The Herald Street Cafe…”
For many people, it opened the door to a level of cuisine exploration for locals that simply did not exist before.
Victoria residents were more likely to dine at Denny’s, White Spot and a handful of small mom & pop diners that plated hamburgers on the flat top with fries.
Things changed in the 80’s with the likes of Pagliacci’s, Goodies on Broad Street, The South Side Diner (however short lived…) and, heck, even John’s Place.
The Herald Street Cafe introduced us to hip dining, dishes like pasta vongole (pasta with clams…) and desserts like Shaker Lemon Pie… and while they never served Key Lime Pie, to the best of my knowledge, it would have fit in.
For whatever reason, I have been dreaming of Key Lime pie for months and I found Chef Brian Lagerstrom’s interpretation of this classic.
I have modified a few of the ingredients more suited to Canadian or European taste buds.
Sure, you could go to his website and check out his recipe – but like anything remotely like stuff you’d see on Pinterest, there are crap loads of ads that you have to sift through — and there are few things that offend me more: a gauntlet of ads you have to run through to see the flipping recipe! Yea, I’m talking to you internet! My food blog features no ads, no shills, no product placement and no BS! Enjoy your visit.
Let’s get into it! The pie is actually 3 things in one: A pie crust (suitable for a myriad of adaptation…) – the custard filling (again, adaptations are only limited by your imagination… and a whipped topping.
GRAHAM CRACKER CRUST
230g (2½ cups) graham crackers
25 g (3 tbsp) nonfat milk powder
30 g (2½ tbsp) sugar
4 g (¾ tsp) salt
65 g (4½ tbsp) butter, unsalted
65 g (4½ tbsp) heavy cream
Supplies – 9.5” Glass pie pan, neutral oil spray for pie pan.
Step 1 – preheat oven to 375 degrees (F)
Step 2 – gently melt the 65g of butter in a small pan – you do not want to boil or simmer the butter – just warm until liquid. Set aside to cool.
Step 3 – pulse/blitz the graham crackers, milk powder, salt and sugar in a food processor until they are the consistency of coarse sand – you are not looking for powder and you don’t want lumpy consistency either. Depending on your food processor, this could take 30s to a minute and a 1/2. Results vary depending on the gear you are using.
Step 4 – add the butter and cream to your food processor. Pulse for 15 to 40 seconds (results vary) – you want something that holds together when pressed (kind of like medium dry (or medium moist) cookie dough. [Consult the attached video for a better idea…]
Step 5 – prepare your crust in a 9.5” glass pie pan – this blog entry does not seek to identify the best method for making a graham wafer crust – consult the attached video for a very good view and approach to making a graham wafer crust. This was my first attempt at making a hybrid graham wafer crust and I was delighted with the results — and I am not a chef!
Step 6 – bake the crust for 12 minutes in a 375 degree oven – you are looking for a golden brown finish for the entire crust. Set aside to cool for 10 – 15 minutes.
Step 7 – Reset oven to 325 degrees (F)
KEY LIME CUSTARD FILLING
7 egg yolks
75 g (⅓ cup) sour cream, full fat
396 g / 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
120 g (½ cup) key lime juice, Nellie & Joes
2 g (¼ tsp) salt
Supplies – a medium sized bowl – steel or glass –
Step 1 – whisk all the wet ingredients in a bowl until smooth and well combined. Let the mixture rest in the bowl for 15 to 20 minutes (while the crust cools a bit is a good amount of time!)
Step 2 – Pour the custard into the pan on top of the graham wafer crust (as if there was any other way…)
Step 3 – You can “rest” the custard in the pan for a minute or two – or jiggle it gently to dislodge any bubbles, but bubbles are unlikely.
Step 4 – Bake for 17 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven. The edges, in to around the center 2-3 inches should have set like jello – and there can be a bit of a jiggle on the outer edges. Note: The pie will continue to set while it cools and chills but do try and get the outer realm to “appear” set. It is better to put it back into the oven for another few minutes and recheck the pie. It is actually challenging to “over-bake” a key lime pie. Use your best judgement and the accompanying video.
Step 5 – Critical! Chilling is extremely important with this pie! While you could refrigerate it for 2-4 hours and serve, it is significantly better if the pie is covered with stretch wrap and chilled overnight in the fridge. If there was one key element in the key lime pie, this is it. Chilling is imperative!
WHIPPED CREAM TOPPING
250 g (1 cup) heavy cream, cold
50 g (½ cup) powdered sugar
5 g (¾ tsp) vanilla extract
pinch of salt
Extras: lime zest, for topping
Step 1 – prepare your whipping cream – I use a KitchenAid mixer but you could do this by hand, with a hand mixer or a whisk (which would be hardcore!) We tend to shoot for “stiff peaks” and that is a pretty subjective term.
Brian’s recipe calls for 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. That is way too much for my Canadian taste buds – I’d start at around 1/4 cup of powdered sugar (which you add after you get your desired peaks…) and don’t forget your vanilla.
Step 2 – chill the topping overnight! (yes, you can sub in cool whip or tinned-compressed whip topping. You do you – there is no right answer.
Comments, Serving and Supply notes…
You can get the juice direct from Nellie & Joes – via Amazon in Canada or Walmart in the USA. The crust, once mastered, can be the base for any cheesecake or custard based pie – you’re only limited by your imagination. The whipped topping is total open to your interpretation and preferences. Go crazy.
Colin Newell in a resident of Victoria B.C. Canada and has been running this “ad-free” blog since 2007. If you enjoy these entries and recipes, please keep the love flowing with a comment or an e-mail… which I will respond to instantly!
Please leave some feedback - it strokes my ego!
Victoria private Steele episode #1 · Monday June 1, 2026 by colin newell
It was a regular Friday in the offices of Robert Steele when the phone rang. I grabbed the handset out of the cradle, a telephone cradle… big, black and plastic like the color and texture of my heart.
Cold and shapeless – that is me. It is the job I do. I’m a private detective with the firm Steele-Wall down on Fisgard in sunny Victoria.
My long time partner, Jimmy Wall met his fate on Fan Tan Alley one cold December afternoon… as of yet unsolved… and that is a story for another day… and I digress… – So his name remains on my office door… as something of a promise of what you will run into… if you ever cross me.
And judging by the sound of the dame on the other end of the blower, I knew I had a hot one on. She spat her words out like a pro-wrestler on a Saturday afternoon, which was odd. It was Friday. Friday, high noon.
It seems one of her favorite cafe’s had just dumped their quality single origin beans for some johnny-come-lately discount brew and, don’t tell me let me guess, the drinks are the same price.
Yea, this was a clear case of brew and gouge. I hate it when that happens. I hate it when the phone rings and there is a angry babe on the other end of the chatterbox. I hate stomach aches and today I was cooking up a winner.
After she stopped ranting I managed to squeeze a few words in edgewise..
“So let’s take it from the top shall we?” I coached.
Catrina Bell, or “Cat” as she is known down on Fisgard, works as the executive legal assistant with the Crown attorneys office and Cat’s no slouch. She knows a bad fish when she smells one so she knew who to call.. I had a good feeling about her as I casually glanced at my empty work calendar.
Cat: “Ah, Mister Steele, is this you?”
“Ma’am”, I mumbled between gritted teeth… “It sure is. What seems to be your beef? “
Cat: “I was down at the Matrix today, you know the cafe down between Wharf and Sunset?”
“Yes, Ma’am… the one between Jimmy’s Pawn and Leo’s Bar n Grill?”
Cat: “Yea, that’s the one… I go there, like, every day without fail and…”
Cat: “well, you know how it is. They get you all jazzed up on supreme bean, all tasty and perfect, and…”
“Please continue…” I encouraged while peeking nervously at my Hamilton watch.
Cat: “Well, I was in for my usual flat white and… well and… well and….”
Just then Cat broke down into a paroxysm of frustrated sobs. I could almost picture her white shoulders quivering under her delicate cotton brocade. I was touched and at the same time fascinated.
“Sugar. Get a grip of yourself… Shake it off…”
By now I was furious. I snubbed out a virtual Marlboro into an imaginary ash-tray next to my Olivetti.
“Here’s the way it is sister. There are two kinds of people out there – The good people: that’s you and the men and women in your office that you know and trust.
And then there are the coffee people: the bad people, looking for every opportunity to screw with the general public. That is where I come in.
When my phone rings, it is like the sound of a crying baby. And lately, I have been getting a crib full.”
My job never ends. Coffee cop and private detective. It is a thankless one and the pay is crap. But sometimes on a sunny day, when the wind is blowing in the right direction and things are going my way, I can sit in the corner cafe and everything is okay. The brew is hot like the pavement over Douglas and Yates on an August night…. until the phone rings…
Cat: “Mr. Steele, ah… Mr. Steele….Hello?”
I snapped out of my narcissistic reverie long enough to realize that I was still on the phone…
Cat: “Their americanos were just so perfect.. crema like butterscotch churned by angels.. and now… and now it’s…
“Go on, Miss C.. and don’t let me interrupt…”
Cat: “Their coffee is like a double-double Tim Horton’s that has been forgotten in the back-seat of a ’56 chev, left overnight in the strip mall and allowed to bake in the heat of the day…”
“Baby, I get your vibe, and it pains me to know that every day in this sleepy little town, there is yet one more coffee crime going down…Now you relax and don’t sweat that pretty little face of yours and let Mr. Steele look after things from here on in…”
As she hung up the phone and I tapped another pretend Marlboro out of my near-empty deck of phantom smokes, I realized one thing …Damn, I need a coffee!
Detective Robert Steele is the sole proprietor of Steele-Wall a private investigation firm keeping a handle on caffeinated crimes and general mischief in the sleepy little town of Victoria.
Colin Newell, author of the coffeecrew blog once helped write an episode of C.S.I. Las Vegas (Season 3 – Episode Last Laugh) – since then, pretty much everything has gone to his head.
We review the XHDATA D-808 all-band receiver · Saturday May 30, 2026 by colin newell
Back when I was a early teenage radio listener, my radio of opportunity had 5 vacuum tubes, a scarcely calibrated dial, illuminated by incandescence, audio with the warmth of a winter glove and the ability to ascertain an accurate frequency commensurate with the times – which is to say: Not at all precise!
In the early 1970’s one developed a certain muscle memory with their radio. For instance, Radio Netherlands via Bonaire in the sunny Caribbean held court on 6165 Khz. HCJB in Quito, Ecuador appeared nightly, reliable as gravity, on 9560 Khz. The Northern Service of CBC Radio was on 9625 Khz and others.
A crafty and somewhat nerdy youngster like me quickly created a reference list of where everyone was on the dial, locking down the frequency purely by station identification and keying it into my muscle memory. If anything, these were the best of times. Like any new hobby, the technical prowess was low and the excitement of discovery was high.
By mid-decade, for me, tubes were replaced with transistors and the occasional analog integrated circuit. Digital read-out and frequency synthesis was still a few years away.
Fast forward 4 decades and we now have ultra-light portables like the XHDATA D-808.
At 310 grams with battery and dimensions of 14.5 × 8.7 × 2.7 cm (just fitting in my manly-man palm…) this is a high performance product that could discretely fit any sized carry-on bag, pack-sack, or shoulder-holster camera bag.
Let’s glance at the coverage:
Frequency range
- FM: 87.5 – 108 (64-108) MHz
- LW: 150 – 450 kHz
- MW: 522 – 1620 kHz (9k Step) 520 – 1710 kHz (10k step)
- SW: 1711 – 29999 kHz
- AIR: 118 – 137 MHz
This is comprehensive – and while results may vary by country visited, I’d likely not advertise the fact that it can tune in aircraft as an overly zealous border guard may see this as “suspicious”. Err on the side of caution and refer to it as an AM-FM radio.
In addition to solid AM(LW) and FM performance, the Shortwave capability is impressive – and it includes SSB (single sideband) functionality for ham radio, high frequency air band-aero weather, marine activities, more code and other neat things.
And while the XHDATA D-808 does not feature a dedicated Synchronous Detection (Sync) mode. Instead, it uses Single Sideband (SSB) with selectable Upper Side Band (USB) and Lower Side Band (LSB) to achieve the same result (if you know what you are doing…)
The XHDATA D-808 has 500 “memories” — referred to as “pages” in the manual and user reviews. One can populate the memories manually or with an ATS system. The ATS is useful for capturing all your local FM stations and nesting them accordingly. Using ATS for evening AM or LW reception: maybe not so practical. You either love it or you don’t.
The XHDATA D-808 has an internal rechargeable battery – charged by virtually any USB capable wall-wart… so, it can get a top up just about anywhere!
Hands on…
Moving between shortwave or “HF” meter bands is pretty streamlined: Press SW to move to the last visited SW meter band and then SW button repetitively to shutter between specific SW bands by increasing frequency.
For the “medium-wave” enthusiasts among us, the XHDATA D-808 has an internal ferrite rod antenna – great for sniffing out weak signals, useful for direction finding and easily coupled to larger loop or active antennas.
The XHDATA D-808 has an 1/8” antenna jack that works well with all active and passive wire antennas – balanced or unbalanced… ultimately extending the range of the radio in many ways. And by the way, if I use any terminology that is not immediately clear, by all means hit me with an e-mail for a more detailed explanation!
Display matrix – some folks complain about the display, its real estate and the overall layout with focus placed on the amount of pixels dedicated to frequency. The frequency display gets around one quadrant of the overall display — that is 1/4. Fine for me. Mileage will vary by how sharp your eyes are. The top left of the display is dedicated to frequency. The upper right is a 4-mode display function; Time, alarm time, air temperature and signal strength in dbu and s/n ratio… super nerdy and useful! What for you ask? Being able to interpret the signal level is useful in evaluating signal strength station to station, tuning up or testing an antenna… direction finding and so on.
Conclusions…
Compared to where I came from, historically, this would be a dream radio in any decade beyond the 1950’s until present. As mentioned, my 1965 radio contained 6 to 8 transistors and a very coarse analog display — and yet I could hear stations over 1000 miles away at night. The XHDATA D-808 is no different. No less sensitive. Full featured and a heck of a lot of fun for the dollar. Some people say, “But Colin, the shortwave dial is dead — and no one is on AM radio anymore!” Even if you live on the West Coast of North America, often considered the “fringe area” of HF/SW radio reception, most mornings around sunrise can be spectacular with stations from South, Central and East Asia clogging the dials with neat music and languages. The XHDATA D-808 is maximum bang for the buck. It is very discrete and readily tossed into an overnight bag or carry on. You needn’t ever be without local or regional news!
The XHDATA D-808 is a must have for any radio enthusiast. It also has a home in every emergency kit. I cannot stress this enough: Keep a battery powered radio in your emergency pack along with a first aid kit, water and food stuffs, etc. The XHDATA D-808 radio is the perfect radio to always have within arms reach! Stay safe, listen in, have fun…
Colin Newell is a resident of Victoria B.C. on Vancouver Island – floating out in the Pacific. His blog has been on the air since the late 1990’s and he enjoys talking on the subject of popular and food culture!
